Trust and credibility are the reasons print remains strong in the Philippines, according to regional editorial staff.

“In a world gone digital,” opens this article and video from ANC News in the Philippines, “one might think that the presence of online platforms would eventually spell the death of the print industry.”

One would be wrong to assume that, according to three media insiders interviewed for the piece.

When asked if magazines should still be relying solely on ads and subscriptions to build success, Erwin Romulo, editor-in-chief of Esquire Philippines, is quick to say no.

“I think magazines should rely on a point of view, and if you have great content [the rest] will follow.” He notes that “most don’t agree with me,” but he’s confident that it’s quality content, first and foremost, that brings success.

“Aside from advertisements and subscriptions, magazines bank on the standards they have set to encourage more intelligent readership in an era of instant information,” Romulo continues.

Preview magazine’s Pauline Juan notes that readers continue to prefer printed magazines, in spite of the proliferation of online content. “I think there will be people who will always love print,” she said.

“It’s the way you produce your content that sets one magazine apart from another and that enables the magazine to develop an audience that’s loyal to the brand and for succeeding editors to follow the tradition,” Juan said, noting that “the printed media adheres to the arduous trust-building process of producing content which makes readers turn pages instead of merely browsing.”

“I like to think of print not just in the physical form which is the printed magazine, but there’s a whole set of values and whole set of tradition that go into the production of the printed page that is difficult to replicate in a website or on social media. So you won’t get that gravitas, you won’t get that commitment, that same amount of time into producing for content on other media,” Juan said.

That trust factor is echoed by Raymond Ang of Filipino consulting firm Benchmark; he notes that Millennials tend to view print media as more credible than digital. And this is prompting many retailers to publish in print.

“The big difference is in online they give you everything you can know versus print or magazines where we tell you everything you should know,” Ang added, a brilliant summary of why print magazines continue to stand out in a digital world.